Movies: Past, present and future

A fire that broke out at Tyler Perry's southwest Atlanta studio caused serious damage only to a backlot facade, the filmmaker's publicist said Wednesday.

On Tuesday evening, over 100 firefighters, 13 engines and 12 trucks responded to a four-alarm fire at Perry's 30-acre complex. The morning after the fire was contained, Perry thanked firefighters in a statement for "limiting the damage" and said he was "grateful that there were no injuries."

The cause of the fire that broke out on the 200,000-square-foot property will be recorded as undetermined, according to the Atlanta Fire Department, because the fire destroyed any evidence that would help lead to its cause. The fire caused damage only to the exterior of one structure due to "the concrete masonry construction behind the exterior fascia," and there was some water damage inside the building, a department spokesman said.

The prolific writer-actor-director's next film is "Madea's Witness Protection," which is being released by Lionsgate on June 29. The filmmaker is currently in post-production on "The Marriage Counselor," which is set to hit theaters next January, as well as his TBS sitcom "For Better or Worse."

[Updated, 11:40 A.M., May 2: An earlier version of this post said that the Atlanta Fire Department was still investigating the cause of the fire; the cause has since been recorded as undetermined. Meanwhile, post-production on Perry's films is taking place in Los Angeles, so none of his upcoming films were affected by the fire.]